Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A control circuit configured to operate a motor using a single general purpose input/output (GPIO) pin of a controller comprising: a first terminal coupled to a GPIO pin of a controller, the first terminal configured to receive and output at least one or more signals; and a motor driver circuit output terminal coupled to a motor driver circuit, wherein the control circuit is configured to output one or more control signals via the motor driver circuit output terminal to control the motor driver circuit based, at least in part, on one or more signals received from the first terminal.
2. The control circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a second terminal coupled to a switch, wherein the first terminal is electrically coupled to the second terminal, such that a voltage level of the first terminal is based, at least in part, on the state of the switch.
3. The control circuit of claim 2 , wherein the second terminal comprises an additional terminal coupled to an additional switch such that a voltage level of the first terminal is based, at least in part, on the state of the additional switch.
4. The control circuit of claim 1 , wherein the motor driver circuit output terminal comprises two output terminals, each of the motor driver circuit output terminals electrically coupled to the first terminal.
5. The control circuit of claim 4 , further comprising a transistor switch electrically coupled to one of the motor driver circuit output terminals.
6. The control circuit of claim 4 , wherein one of the motor driver circuit output terminals is electrically coupled to a second terminal, the second terminal coupled to a switch.
7. The control circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a network of resistors coupled to at least one of the first terminal, the motor driver circuit output terminal and an input voltage terminal.
8. A system configured to operate a motor using a single general purpose input/output (GPIO) pin of a controller, the system comprising: a motor; a motor drive circuit coupled to the motor and configured to output one or more signals to activate the motor; a controller having a single GPIO pin and configured to output and receive one or more signals to control the motor via the single GPIO pin; and a control circuit coupled to the motor drive circuit and the controller, wherein the control circuit is configured to output one more control signals to control the motor driver circuit based, at least in part, on one or more signals received from the GPIO pin of the controller.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the motor is configured to actuate a mechanical component to a plurality of positions based, at least in part, on one or more controller output signals.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the motor drive circuit is configured to activate the motor in one of two directions based on control signals received from the control circuit.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller relates to at least one of a microcontroller, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array and any type of processor in general.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to output one or more signals by the single GPIO pin to operate the motor based, at least in part, on a received command.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the control circuit comprises a plurality of terminals, the control circuit coupled to the controller and motor drive circuit by the plurality of terminals.
14. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a switch coupled to the control circuit, the switch coupled to a device to be controlled.
15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to operate a tray of a compact disc player, video disc player and any type of media player in general.
16. A method for operating a motor using a single general purpose input/output (GPIO) pin of a controller, the method comprising the acts of: receiving an input command at the input/output GPIO pin of the controller; setting the input/output GPIO pin of the controller to output one or more signals based on the received input command; detecting one or more input signals at the input/output GPIO pin by the controller; and setting the input/output GPIO pin based, at least in part, on the one or more input signals detected at the input/output GPIO pin.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein setting the GPIO pin of the controller to output one or more signals comprises outputting at least one of a high voltage level, low voltage level and floating point output.
18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising setting the GPIO pin of the controller to receive one or more input signals for a predetermined period of time.
19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the one or more output signals activate a motor based, at least in part, on a received a command.
20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the one or more output signals activate operation of a tray associated with at least one of a compact disc player, video disc player and any type of media player in general.
Unknown
December 25, 2012
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